Showing posts with label KCMO School District budget. Show all posts
Showing posts with label KCMO School District budget. Show all posts
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Self-serving superintendent
Well, now we find out today that not only did now-former Kansas City Missouri School District Superintendent John Covington go shopping for a job elsewhere, FAR before his contract ended, AND lie about it, and then leave early, during the first week of a new school year--he's not done yet--NOW he also cherry-picked those 3 administrators that just left so he could take them with him to his new, high-paying job up there in Detroit, likely so it could help save his butt. Was this guy Machiavellian or what? Link: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/11/10/3258754/covington-introduces-three-from.html
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Kansas City in the news
Our fair city came up in the news this afternoon, in a couple different ways.
In the first one I saw, it called us out for our school district shrinking. It had some big, tragic headline about how desperate we are--"Kansas City Schools Crisis" was the headline.
I beg to differ.
From the outside, maybe this looks and seems desperate and crazy but for those of us looking on, this shrinking of the KCMO School District is just the obvious thing we need to do right now. In a district that used to have 75,000 students, we now have about 16,000 so close schools we must.
Get over it.
Then, in the 2nd article about KCMO , it pointed out how we rank tenth, nationally, for not doing too badly in comparison to other cities regarding this worst recession in 80 years.
So good on us, eh?
Finally, not about Kansas City at all, there was an article about Detroit, Michigan and their problems.
Think we have it bad?
Think again.
The leaders of Detroit have proposed bulldozing up to one quarter of the city, in an effort to save it.
Detroit is collapsing from within. (Thanks, General Motors, for outsourcing all those jobs!).
We, by sharp contrast, while not exactly soaring, are nowhere close to that bad a shape.
I say again, too, that, come 2011, when the downtown Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts opens, the nation will come calling on us and we'll look pretty good, by comparison to a lot of other places.
Cheer up.
It could be a lot worse, for sure.
In the first one I saw, it called us out for our school district shrinking. It had some big, tragic headline about how desperate we are--"Kansas City Schools Crisis" was the headline.
I beg to differ.
From the outside, maybe this looks and seems desperate and crazy but for those of us looking on, this shrinking of the KCMO School District is just the obvious thing we need to do right now. In a district that used to have 75,000 students, we now have about 16,000 so close schools we must.
Get over it.
Then, in the 2nd article about KCMO , it pointed out how we rank tenth, nationally, for not doing too badly in comparison to other cities regarding this worst recession in 80 years.
So good on us, eh?
Finally, not about Kansas City at all, there was an article about Detroit, Michigan and their problems.
Think we have it bad?
Think again.
The leaders of Detroit have proposed bulldozing up to one quarter of the city, in an effort to save it.
Detroit is collapsing from within. (Thanks, General Motors, for outsourcing all those jobs!).
We, by sharp contrast, while not exactly soaring, are nowhere close to that bad a shape.
I say again, too, that, come 2011, when the downtown Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts opens, the nation will come calling on us and we'll look pretty good, by comparison to a lot of other places.
Cheer up.
It could be a lot worse, for sure.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
On KCMO School District budget and the KC Star
So The Star covered Superintendent Covington's meeting yesterday and plans for the KCMO School District.
And it was pretty informative, to a point. Fortunately, they didn't really put a "spin" on it--they just covered it very matter-of-factly. Good for them.
But there's a couple of things here that needs to be further pointed out that they didn't report--some shortcomings.
First, I was just told that, if the District doesn't do this and cut these schools, the 285 teachers and the 40 to 50 million dollars in expenses these cutbacks involve, this same District would be
financially bankrupt by next year.
That's pretty big, obviously, and that just can't happen.
But it wasn't mentioned in the paper.
Further, secondly, should that happen, Jeff City would have to take over.
And no one wants that.
No one.
Third, the good news is that, supposedly there are lots of teachers who are in line for retirement so they'll be asked to do just that. From what I understand a lot of them abe bailing already.
Fourth, note the date the Superintendent gave for everyone to respond and vote. He wants this ready for a vote at the Board's next meeting--Feb. 24--ten days from now.
Wow. That's a bit of a whirlwind schedule.
But these people have done the research and tried their best to come up with a plan to address the big budget problems.
It looks as though it's going to sail through.
Finally, if anyone does come out against this, really, they'll have a huge challenge to come up with any other options. How else, exactly, do you cut 40 to 50 million dollars in expenses from the budget
without closing these approximately 20 schools and slashing employment roles?
If you're out there and have any better ideas, you'd better speak up quickly.
It seems as though Superintendent Covington is the right man, doing the right things--the things that need to happen--at just the right time.
Stay tuned.
The meetings this week should be interesting.
And it was pretty informative, to a point. Fortunately, they didn't really put a "spin" on it--they just covered it very matter-of-factly. Good for them.
But there's a couple of things here that needs to be further pointed out that they didn't report--some shortcomings.
First, I was just told that, if the District doesn't do this and cut these schools, the 285 teachers and the 40 to 50 million dollars in expenses these cutbacks involve, this same District would be
financially bankrupt by next year.
That's pretty big, obviously, and that just can't happen.
But it wasn't mentioned in the paper.
Further, secondly, should that happen, Jeff City would have to take over.
And no one wants that.
No one.
Third, the good news is that, supposedly there are lots of teachers who are in line for retirement so they'll be asked to do just that. From what I understand a lot of them abe bailing already.
Fourth, note the date the Superintendent gave for everyone to respond and vote. He wants this ready for a vote at the Board's next meeting--Feb. 24--ten days from now.
Wow. That's a bit of a whirlwind schedule.
But these people have done the research and tried their best to come up with a plan to address the big budget problems.
It looks as though it's going to sail through.
Finally, if anyone does come out against this, really, they'll have a huge challenge to come up with any other options. How else, exactly, do you cut 40 to 50 million dollars in expenses from the budget
without closing these approximately 20 schools and slashing employment roles?
If you're out there and have any better ideas, you'd better speak up quickly.
It seems as though Superintendent Covington is the right man, doing the right things--the things that need to happen--at just the right time.
Stay tuned.
The meetings this week should be interesting.
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